Pensioner caught with cocaine jailed

A pensioner caught importing €280,000 of cocaine through Kerry Airport last January has been given a seven-year prison sentence.

William Lamb had passed through a number of international airports with the cocaine from Brazil hidden in his rucksack inside a suitcase, before being detected in Kerry, the court heard.

Lamb, aged 68, of Clonmeen, Banteer, Co Cork, but originally from the UK, had pleaded guilty to two charges including the importation of cocaine with a street value of more than €13,000, and possession of the drug for sale or supply on Jan 14, 2013, at the airport, in Farranfore.

The detection of just under 4kg of cocaine came on foot of profiling by customs officers in Kerry.

Lamb is not to appeal his sentence but will wish to serve his time in a German prison to be near his ill wife, a German national, Tom Creed, defending, told Judge Carroll Moran.

Garda John Alfred of the Kerry Divisional Drugs Squad was at the airport when the drugs were found inside a rucksack lining during the planned operation.

Lamb had travelled to and from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Kerry, Paris, Amsterdam, he told Tom Rice, prosecuting, at the sentencing hearing yesterday in the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee.

Lamb would organise couriers for two major drugs criminals, one in Dublin and one in London, gardaí believed, after an examination of emails on his laptop and documents at his home.

“Normally he would use mules to go to South America, but he got stuck this time and had to do it himself,” the garda said.

He admitted planning to organise mules to bring in ‘bottles of wine’ — that is liquid cocaine — from Brazil into Europe for the London criminal but said this had not materialised.

“He was a go-to-person who would organise couriers to bring in cocaine, but he denied ever bringing in drugs himself. He said he was not a drugs user.

“He said he was not an international drugs dealer or sourcer of drugs, but he was good at organising,” the garda said.

He was to be paid €5,000 for the Kerry Airport run by the Dublin criminal, Garda Alfred continued.

An ex-army man, Lamb was in receipt of three pensions — a British, German and Irish pension.

He had lived in Germany for many years and had married a widow with four young children and had raised them. But he had lived in north Cork for some time and had sold kitchens in the area for a design company.

His German step-daughter said she had known him since the age of 12, when he had married her mother 35 years ago.

“He was always there for us children… he did everything he could for us.”

He had planned to return to Germany to look after her ill mother, and she was shocked to hear about his present difficulty, she said.

Lamb also had a serious heart condition and had been a cancer sufferer.

Judge Carroll Moran said he would not impose the mandatory 10 year sentence. He imposed a seven year sentence, but suspended two years.

The judge also backdated the entire sentence to January, as he has been in custody since then.

“He was more than a mule, but he was not the owner of the drugs,” the judge remarked.